2 BULLETIN 1043, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
His growing grain or fruit may be injured by plant diseases, de- 
voured by insect or animal pests, or severely damaged by wind- 
storms, frost, or hail. 
MEANING OF "LOSS" OR "DAMAGE" IN CONNECTION WITH 
GROWING CROPS. 
Before attempting to make any statement concerning the impor- 
tance or extent of loss or damage to farmers resulting from adverse 
natural conditions or agencies, the meaning of the words "loss" 
or " damage " when used in connection with crops must be deter- 
mined. One or two simple illustrations will assist in giving these 
terms a more definite meaning than the one often attached to them. 
Assume, for example, that with ideal climatic conditions and in 
the absence of all loss-producing agencies, A, B, and C, farmers in 
different sections of the country, can produce, respectively, 40 bushels 
of wheat, 100 bushels of corn, and 800 pounds of lint cotton an acre. 
Each man has at some time produced the exceptionally large yields 
indicated. Because the conditions are not ideal during a given 
season, A actually harvests only 20 bushels of wheat an acre, B 
only 55 bushels of corn, and C only 350 pounds of cotton. Taking 
into consideration the loss due to damage to crops from all causes 
or combinations of causes, these three farmers, in a certain sense at 
least, may claim losses of 20 bushels of wheat, 45 bushels of corn, 
and 450 pounds of cotton an acre, respectively. They failed by 
the amounts indicated to obtain the maximum crops that would 
have resulted from the expenditure of their labor and capital had 
not weather conditions and other natural agencies been to some extent 
adverse. 
As the natural hazards to crops are exceptionally high in certain 
types of farming, such as wheat production in the semiarid West, 
the next illustration may very properly be based on this type of 
farming. Let it be assumed that farmers X, Y, and Z are engaged 
during a given year in producing wheat by dry-farming methods 
in three semiarid regions of the West, and that the average yield 
of wheat in each of these regions for the last 20 years has been 8 
bushels an acre. Let it be assumed also that this average yield has, 
at the price received, given returns covering all proper charges 
against the production of an acre of wheat under the methods of 
tillage followed by these men. On each of the farms in question 35- 
bushel yields have been harvested, Y having reaped a 35-bushel crop 
a year ago. 
In the territory where X operates, average conditions prevail 
throughout the year in question. X grows and actually reaps an 8- 
bushel crop. In Y's territory the season proves extremely adverse, a 
